My first (real) smoke

boomchke

I did my first smoke on my XL BGE today.  Overall, I think it went really well.  We were going to be home all day so I stopped at the grocery store and bought a pack of ribs and some rib rub.  I think most recipes call for rubbing them down the night before, leaving them in the fridge, and then taking them out the next AM for the cook.  I didnt have that much time, so mine sat in the fridge with rub for 2 hours, then I pulled them out an hour before I put them on the egg.  I started the egg around noon.  I've been having some issues lighting it lately so I tried a different method this time.  I cleaned it out really well, put in new lump, and then layered in about 8 chunks of apple and hickory wood total.  I lit the egg in three different place, then closed the lid with the bottom damper wide open and the top damper off.  This seemed to REALLY help.  I not sure if others with the XL see this, but when I try to leave mine open for 10 minutes after lighting like suggested, I usually dont get good results.  The only issue with closing the lid right away was that the egg started getting up to temp sooner so I ended up opening the egg once I saw the temp climbing.  So it was kind of the reverse way to light it but closing it first, really seemed to help get things lit and then once I opened it things were lit and sort of continued well on their own.  

So - Once things were going, I put the plate setter in, a tray of water, the grate, and then set my vents and waited for things to stabilize.  This is where I hit my first issue.  I couldnt get the egg to stabilize, the temp started climbing even with the vents almost closed.  At 250 I closed them entirely and the egg continued to climb to 300.  At this point, I honestly wasnt sure what to do so I opened it up hoping that closing the vents had calmed down the lump and I could open the lid to get some of the heat out.  I played this game 2 or 3 times, then finally decided to just set the vents to barely open and see what happened.  After about an hour, things came down to 250 and stabilized. Im not sure what I did wrong here, but this was the first time I had the issue of the egg getting too hot.  Usually I have the opposite issue.  

At any rate, I got the ribs on, shut the lid and waited.  

The temp of the egg stayed mostly stabile for the next 4 hours.  I adjusted the vents a couple of time, but I probably didnt have to. What was interesting to me was the smoke.  Right before I put the ribs on I was actually worried I had put the grill out.  There wasnt any smoke coming out of the daisy wheel.  However, the temp stayed stable and it came back up to temp after I put the ribs on so I assumed I was ok.  I was working outside while it was cooking and a couple of times through the cook I noticed the smoke seemed to come and go.  Initially I thought I had clear blue smoke since I couldnt really see it, then towards the middle and the end I had rather obvious white smoke.  Not sure why that was, or if its good or bad, but at 4.5 hours I pulled the ribs out, wrapped them in foil, and put them in a cooler for an hour.  After an hour, I took them out and ended up with whats below.

Overral, Im pretty happy with them.  My wife liked them which was really what I was hoping for.  Im not sure if it was the rub I used (some cheaper famous daves stuff I found at the store in a pinch) but I feel like the initial taste was good, but I feel like I detected just a touch of bitterness after eating them. I'll need to experiment with other rubs and methods but for my first cook I was just happy that I didnt ruin the meat!

SGH

They look good from where I'm sitting. Enjoy that XLarge brother.  

Jstroke

Those look good to me. 

Dobie

The egg is a journey, enjoy the trip you've just begun. 

Rebhanmh

Nice solid rack of ribs dude!

Theophan

They look GREAT!

I won't claim to be an expert, and other people may have better ideas, but two things:  First, I'd guess the heavier smoke later in the cook was pieces of your smoking wood smoldering more actively as the fire migrated to them, so it's good smoke, not bad.  Smell it another time, and see if it smells good to you.

And second, I'm wondering if the odd temperature problem might have been flames too close to the dome thermometer.  When there's a flame right under the thermometer but most of the lump isn't really burning, yet, it can show a much higher temperature than most of the dome is.  I always try to be sure the places I light the lump aren't right below the thermometer.

Again, they look great!

boomchke

Thanks!

@Theophan - The interesting thing about the temp was that I was using a ambient temp probe that was on the grill right next to where I wanted to put the ribs.  For some reason, it was just getting hot.  I wonder if it has something to do with my new lighting method where I close the lid for about 5 minutes.  From what I've heard (and now know) the egg is hard to get back down to a low temp once it gets up.  

beachsmoke

Look good giddy up

Steve753

I never use water in my Egg. The Egg (I have a Large) traps moisture inside it all by itself.
Also realize that it takes a while for the temperature to change after you make a setting. I had the same problem with temperature control when I started. Just keep on trying to use your Egg. You will get better  with experience.

stemc33

Sounds like a fun cook. FWIW I usually only light one area in my large when doing a low temp cook. Thanks for posting. 

gdenby

Results look good, particularly for a first time.

The rub really doesn't need to sit on the meat very long. Maybe 45 min. Enough time to let the sugar and salt melt, and the other flavors to mix with the foods own water.

I've never used an XL, so I don't know if the flatter dome shape changes the air flow. I light my lump w. a weed burner, wait a minute, then shut the dome, leave the daisy off, and the bottom vent wide open. After 10 - 15 min, the dome therm is getting above 200F, so I close vents. If I'm aiming at 250, the bottom is usually no more than 1/8" open and the daisy petal holes no more than half.  After a few hours, the vents will only need to be open a crack, almost to small to see the openings.

On a few occasions I lit all the lump at once, and found the dome was immediately at 350, and stayed there for over 30 min.

As mentioned above, not much need to have any water in the Egg. Unless the drippings are burning, the fluid just keeps the meat closer to boiling temperature, and increases the chance of creosote forming.

Could be lots of reason for the slight bitterness. Creosote, as I mentioned. Some of the "white" smoke might have been acrid. Sugar in rub can burn.

It might seem odd, but adding a little extra salt at the end might alleviate that. Salt suppresses the sensation of bitterness, allowing sweet flavors to be more apparent.